Introduction of Resolution Condemning Mexico's Issuance of Offensive Stamps
INTRODUCTION OF RESOLUTION CONDEMNING MEXICO'S ISSUANCE OF OFFENSIVE STAMPS -- (House of Representatives - July 11, 2005)
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Miss McMorris). Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 4, 2005, the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Cleaver) is recognized for 60 minutes.
GENERAL LEAVE
Mr. CLEAVER. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject of my Special Order.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Missouri?
There was no objection.
Mr. CLEAVER. Madam Speaker, I have introduced H. Res. 347, a resolution that condemns Mexico for printing and distributing blatantly racist postage stamps; and I am, along with many others, urging Mexican President Vicente Fox to immediately cease printing and distributing the postage stamps and recall from circulation those postage stamps currently on the market.
Madam Speaker, Mexican-Americans and African-Americans have fought for decades to eliminate and erase racial stereotypes and depictions that dominated all forms of media in the early 20th century. On June 29, 2005, the government of Mexico issued a series of five postage stamps commemorating and celebrating Memin Pinguin, a comic book character created in the 1940s who was depicted as a dark-skinned Jim Crow era cartoon. And while this character is depicted as a black child with dark skin and greatly exaggerated lips, similar Jim Crow memorabilia referred to when I was a boy as Pickaninny and his mother Mammy were all over this country. Due to a rise in sensitivity, those things have pretty much been removed from sight. But this particular comic book series is interesting because it is now current. Memin Pinguin is a character who is taunted by white colleagues for his appearance, his speech and mannerisms. The Mexican postal service has authorized the issuance of 750,000 of the stamps which may be used in the Mexican domestic market and the international market. Civil rights organizations such as the National Council of La Raza, I am proud to say; the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the NAACP, I am proud to say; the National Urban League; and the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition have denounced the racist postage stamp series.
I would also say, Madam Speaker, that the Hispanic Caucus of our Congress has also condemned these stamps. This insult comes on the heels of Mexican President Vicente Fox's quote last month as saying the Mexican citizens in this country will work on jobs that even blacks don't want. Ultimately, he apologized for making that statement, but, Madam Speaker, he is sticking by the stamps, even though the President of the United States of America, George Bush, has also condemned the stamps.
This resolution is aimed at getting the people of Mexico, if not the president, to demand that this kind of thing be stopped. Ancestors of Mexican blacks entered that country centuries ago through the Caribbean port city of Veracruz, and they were slave laborers. They worked in the sugar fields of Mexico. Today, the population of blacks living in Mexico is about 1 million; that is 1 million out of 105 million people. And so they have a small population. But no person of color can appreciate what they have done. Madam Speaker, the stamps are insulting hopefully to all people of good will but certainly to people of color. Memin Pinguin is depicted as a part man, part monkey or chimpanzee. This character is presented as some stupid half-animal, half-human person out of the jungles, and it is very difficult for me to find this amusing in any way. It is this kind of cultural terrorism that has done damage to the psyche of little children of color for decades and decades. There is not a single parent who should feel good about their child growing up looking at this kind of image of themselves, because this damages their somebody-ness.
Madam Speaker, there are five stamps in this series, and each one, if you look at them as they have been released, becomes progressively more insulting, until the last stamp has Memin standing in front of his mother, Aunt Jemima, with a towel in her hand. And she too is looked at, at least projected as a half-woman, half-ape. With her towel in her hand, she is half bending, and this kind of insult to people of color seems to happen in Mexico with increased intensity. Mexican President Fox stated that the stamp is an image in a comic book, and he said that he has watched this character since infancy, he says, and I quote, It is cherished here in Mexico; the other minorities or the Afro-Americans or Latins, I would suggest to them first, read the magazine.
Madam Speaker, I do not need to read the magazine. In my city, in Kansas City, some of the Native Americans spoke to me during my term as mayor, saying that the tomahawk chop used at the Chiefs football games was insulting to them. I had done the tomahawk chop at the games when the Chiefs scored and did it without any regard to anybody or anything. But I did not realize that it was insulting to some of the Native Americans, and eventually, I said to them, if it is insulting to you, I will stop doing it. I will encourage others with whom I come in contact to stop doing it. The one thing I did not say to him is, you should not be upset. If I have a toothache, I do not want a dentist to tell me you should not hurt. If I hurt, I hurt. And if people respect me, if people have any sensitivity at all, they will say, he hurts, therefore, I will not contribute further to his pain.
This, Madam Speaker, is hurtful. It is damaging, and the more it continues, the more young kids are going to be hurt. My hope, even my prayer, is that the day will soon pass when this kind of thing will be something we talk about in the ugly and distant past, something that we do not have to worry about dealing with now. This is 2005. This is the kind of thing that many African-Americans experienced living in the South when they had lawn jockeys out on the greenery in front of large plantations. No one would have thought just a short while ago that, in 2005, this kind of thing would still be around, this kind of thing would still stare us in the face to insult us and to do further damage to our children. To date, 750,000 of these stamps have been purchased. That racial stereotype will now appear on letters going both inside Mexico and around the world. This is a total lack of respect for people of color.
I am also pleased that the Congressional Black Caucus has released a statement. The chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, U.S. Representative MELVIN WATT from North Carolina, released the following statement: The members of the Congressional Black Caucus find the stamps insensitive, racist and an insult to people everywhere, and we call on President Vicente Fox to recall the stamps immediately and to issue an apology to all people of African descent. The stamps are offensive and perpetuate a negative stereotype of people of Africa. Again, we call on President Fox to repudiate the issuance of these stamps and to announce his commitment to address the problem of racism, yes, even in Mexico.
Madam Speaker, growing up, I had to deal with this on a daily basis. Bug-eyed, big-lipped, half-human, half-chimpanzee hybrids were portrayed all around us, and there was nothing we could do except to take it. It was an insult for me to grow up having a teacher read Little Black Sambo. The only book with people who looked like me when I was growing up was Little Black Sambo, and the only thing he did of substance was to eat a lot of pancakes. I hope people understand that they are hurting other human creatures. This should not take place in the 21st century.
As President Fox is justifying what has been done, I would like to remind him that, not long ago, in fact, it was in 1969, there was a Frito Bandito cartoon character that hit the airwaves here in the United States. And he was used to advertise some corn chips. But Frito Bandito was pulled off the air when Mexicans protested, when they came to the conclusion that this was an insult portraying all of them as some little shady Mexican character who was actually a thief, bandito. But the good news is that the Frito Lay corn chip company did pull the ad. And so there is at least a precedent for pulling back when people find out they are hurting other people.
Madam Speaker, my request again is for all the Members of this great body to join in being a sponsor of this resolution to help denounce something that is wrong, to show that all the people of this Nation, black, white and brown, are united in their attempt to eliminate stereotypes. It would be a powerful, powerful move by this Congress if all of us joined forces to condemn this.
I am also pleased to say, Madam Speaker, that there are a number of Republicans who have also come in along with a number of Democrats and, as I have said earlier, the President of the United States has condemned this, the minority leader and the minority whip are also condemning what they consider to be something that is degrading and demeaning, not just to people of color but to the people of the world.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne).
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. CLEAVER. Madam Speaker, I would like to express appreciation to the gentleman from New Jersey for his very eloquent and passionate words concerning something that I am angry about.
Madam Speaker, I have grandsons who are growing up now in this country who I do not want to be negatively impressed by these kinds of stereotypes. I do not want my children or my children's children or anyone's children to be subjected to this kind of insult. This is outrageous.
Madam Speaker, this is not just a caricature. For many people around the world it is a belief, and those of us who are sensitive and those of us who are impacted would like to erase this as a belief.
Some day, caricatures like this will not matter. We will have dealt finally with this bogeyman race. But this is not that day.
Some day, Little Black Sambo will not matter. We will look back and laugh at it. But today is not that day.
A recent appointee to the D.C. Circuit has said that using the "N" word, even in a workplace when discrimination is also an issue, is protected speech. I think that is very dangerous. Now, some day, using the "N" word will not matter. But today is not that day.
Some day, the president of Mexico will be outraged that something like this ever took place. But this is not that day.
Some day, a call for racial sensitivity in this body will not be needed. But today is not that day.
Some day, the country of Mexico will have a President who respects the citizens of the entire world. But, sadly, Madam Speaker, today is not that day.
Mr. CLEAVER. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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